terça-feira, maio 13, 2008

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is an American handbook that lists different categories of mental disorders and the criteria for diagnosing them, and is widely used by mental health professionals worldwide, including "clinicians and researchers as well as insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and policy makers" (wikipedia). To say that it's something of an influential document is a bit of an understatement.

True Selves by Mildred L. Brown & Chloe Ann Rounsley, subtitled Understanding Transsexualism: For Families, Friends, Coworkers and Helping Professionals, was written by a sex therapist (with the help of a journalist) who specialises in treating transgendered people.

A TRANSSEXUAL from Rainworth says she is determined to go through with a sex-change operation despite getting no support from the NHS.

Forty-one-year-old Debbie Davies, who used to be known as Richard, has already spent £20,000 on her transformation — including breast implants and hormone therapy — and will go through with the £10,000 gender reassignment operation privately later this year.

A man and a woman are set to get married Saturday in Mexico City, but there will be something peculiar about the wedding: they are both transsexuals, and Jose Mauricio is the bride while Maria del Socorro will become her husband.

For those who are concerned about the establishment of an adherent to reparative therapy (Dr. Kenneth Zucker) and another seeking to entrench "autogynephilia" (a pathologization of treatment of non-"homosexual transgender" transfolk) in the DSM-V, there have been some new happenings.

From an interview with St. Barney in the May 2, 2008 edition of Just Out:

SMB: If you had to go through the process again, would you change anything in your approach?

BF: No. I understand the problem of having [transgender protections] put in the bill and taking it out. It would have been better not to have put it in the bill in the first place and to have two separate bills in the beginning…. Unfortunately, people in the trans community and their allies didn't want to accept reality.

TransActive Education & Advocacy strongly opposes the appointment of Dr. Kenneth Zucker to Chair the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders work group that will revise and develop the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association' s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).

This position is based upon his approach to clinical treatment of transgender and gender non-conforming identity in children & youth.

As someone who studied history at university, I was greatly looking forward to reading Leslie Feinberg's Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to RuPaul. The book is one part memoir and one part a search for an historical identity of gender variant people.

On the Task Force, named as Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Chair, we find Dr. Kenneth Zucker , from Toronto infamous Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH, formerly the Clarke Institute). Dr. Zucker is infamous for utilizing reparative therapy to cure gender-variant children. Named to his work group, we find Zuckers mentor, Dr. Ray Blanchard, Head of Clinical Sexology Services at CAMH and creator of the theory of autogynephilia, categorized as a paraphilia and defined as man paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman. Also Dr Ann Lawrence, a supporter of his JUNK SCIENCE, is understood to be in consideration as an alternate member.

Editor's Note: Zythyra is an acoustic musician, writer and activist who lives in rural NH. Zie has had considerable practice over the past few years trying to construct sentences without using any gender pronouns.